I mean, really, has no one ever heard of the flu shot? I get one every year, and it manages to keep me reasonable healthy…

For the 2nd night in a row, a Red Sox starter is a late scratch because of the nefarious bug that is going around, so Jon Lester, who hasn’t been super consistent to begin with, gets the start on 3 days rest (the 1st time in his career). And while he was a little better in terms of pitch count and the “nibbling” thing (5 inning, 80 pitches, __ for strikes, while only giving up 2 walks) The 9 hits (including 1 solo shot in the 1st) and 4 runs while striking out 1? Not so much….

So now the quandary is that the Sox are without a starter for today’s afternoon game–so the Sox will be calling up pitching phenom Just Masterson from AA ball for his major league debut…Considered to be the top pitching prospect in the Red Sox organization, he is currently 4-0 with a 0.95 ERA in 4 starts with Double-A Portland…

More than likely Craig Hansen, who was called up yesterday, will be sent back to Pawtucket so that Masterson can have his roster spot. Hansen, despite giving up the game winning homer run and taking the loss, pitched 1 2/3 inning, only giving up the 1 run, while striking out 3 and walking none…

As of now, Josh Beckett is slated to start Sunday’s game against Tampa bay–hopefully his neck and flu issues will be long gone by then…

A month after going on the DL with a strained right oblique, Bartolo Colon is slated to start for the PawSox on May 5th, barring any unforeseen circumstances. From Tito: “Colon got out to 120; he’s gotten all his stuff done, which is good. We’re starting to try to get some tentative dates on maybe when he could pitch. I would say, and this is very tentative, the earliest is probably May 5. That’s if everything goes according to plan. That would maybe be a couple of innings — that would be exactly one month from when he was down. But again, that’s all tentative, but at least there’s a little bit of a target in sight.”

Looks like David Ortiz is officially out of his slump–hitting his 3rd homer run of the season last night, a 2-run shot that tied the score at 4 until the Casey Kotchman homer–In the last 10 games, he has hit in 9 of them, and has a batting average of .309…

In less than a week, the Sox roster will be getting a huge boost–when Mike Lowell returns to the starting 9. It looks like the plan is to have him play a 3-game rehab assignment with the PawSox, starting tomorrow, then with the off-day for the Sox on Monday, he’ll be reactivated and start on Tuesday–Whooo Hooo!!! Let’s just hope he doesn’t get the flu…

Coco Crisp will get the start in center field today, after a 9 game absence, nursing hamstring woes…

Today: Justin Masterson, in his major league debut, takes the mound for the Sox–he is opposed by Angels starter Joe Saunders–1st pitch 1:35pm…